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Research Integrity

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Training

The following is a summary of training opportunities currently available for staff and students. This list is not exhaustive and is intended to provide guidance as to options available. It will also be updated so do re-visit this page.

 If you have any questions about the following courses, please contact the Research Integrity team

UCL Research Integrity training

Research Integrity (Online) - All staff and students

Research Integrity is a self-paced eLearning course available to all staff and students at UCL.  Created by the Research Integrity team the course provides a detailed explanation of what research integrity means for researchers at UCL and how it relates to their work.  By the end of the course, learners will understand:

  • What research integrity is and why it matters
  • UCL’s approach to research integrity, including the Statement on Research Integrity, the Code of Conduct for Research, and the Principles of Integrity 
  • What it means to lead by example, how to do it, and why it matters for research integrity and research culture at UCL

The training consists of three modules and on completion, learners are provided with a certificate which can be used as evidence of meeting learning requirements. 

A further course ‘Research integrity in practice’ will be launched in due course and will provide an in-depth look at how to embed the principles of integrity into each stage of the research lifecycle, as well as looking at cases studies and dilemmas. 

Accessing Research Integrity (online)

You can access the course via UCL LearnUpon and through the Researcher Development catalogue throughout the academic year under the ‘Research Governance and Organisation’ section of the Researcher Development Framework (Introduction to research at UCL).  

PhD researchers are asked to access the course via inkPath in order to ensure your registration links to your training record.

Introduction to Research Support & Integrity (PhD researchers)

This introductory course for UCL PhD researchers is run over four weeks as a combination of online self-paced learning and live online session.  This course provides an introduction to research integrity at UCL as well as the areas and teams within UCL that help support this.  By the end of this course learners will:

  • Understand the principles and importance of Research Integrity
  • Know what UCL support is available to you throughout your research project
  • Know the obligations of any UCL researcher

All research (regardless of the discipline, research methods or data sources used) raises ethical issues and it is essential that these are acknowledged and addressed appropriately within the research. Attendees will gain an appreciation of the different types of ethical issues that can arise as well as the various routes for ethical approval.  Good research data management is also important for helping to ensure research integrity and planning for data management ahead of time helps researchers keep data secure, organised and useable throughout the research lifecycle.  Attendees will also learn about the requirements and regulations researchers need to comply with and how to share research outputs, including an understanding of the different routes to open access.

The sessions will cover:

  • Introduction to the course (live via zoom)
  • Research Integrity session (live via zoom)
  • Data Protection (live via zoom)
  • Research ethics (live via zoom)
  • Research Data Management (self-paced online training)
  • Research IT (self-paced online training)
  • Open Access and copyright (self-paced online training)
  • Summary and Q&A (live via zoom session)

Note: Research Integrity (online) is a perquisite to this Introductory course, and so all attendees will be expected to have undertaken the online course ahead of the live research integrity session.

Accessing Introduction to research support & integrity

The course is run once per term with registration via inkPath, and dates will be published each term on the Researcher Development catalogue under the ‘Research Governance and Organisation’ section of the Researcher Development Framework.  

Dilemma Game

A useful way to generate discussion and to raise awareness of research integrity is to organise discussion groups, such as within departments or research teams. Using scenarios to promote discussion helps to bring to the fore and promote an awareness of potential issues, as well as recognising when issues could arise and how best they could be dealt with.

One possible aid for generating discussions is the Dilemma Game, which was created by the Erasmus University Rotterdam with the purpose of promoting discussion on areas of integrity and professionalism in research. You can download and print a copy of the Dilemma Game from the Erasmus University website. 

If any are interested in finding out more or arranging one of these seminars, please email researchintegrity@ucl.ac.uk.

Integrity related training

Animal Research: Critical, Challenging & Creative Thinking

This course is intended ONLY for students who are, or who are expecting to be conducting research involving the use of animals or using animal derived data. It will help you understand the moral and ethical arguments that unpin the range of viewpoints, introduce you to what the 3Rs principles of humane science (to replace, reduce & refine animal use) means in practice and give you an awareness of the importance of public engagement.

You will gain a general awareness of research integrity issues and how they are impacting on the quality of biomedical research. You will learn about evidence-based research and how to identify/avoid common pitfalls in basic experimental design. 

The course introduces bioscience research reporting standards including the ARRIVE guidelines and good research practices that enhance animal welfare and help improve the reliability and reproducibility of animal derived data.

The course is divided into the following four interactive workshops, each half-day sessions.

  1. Introduction to animal use in research
  2. Animal Research Integrity
  3. Critical thinking and experimental design
  4. Assessing welfare, implementing Refinement and Reducing Suffering

Further information on the course is availabe in the Researcher Development catalogue, and dates will be published termly when the course will be run.  

Case Studies

Case studies are also useful instruments in raising awareness of common research integrity issues and good practice and stimulate thought about integrity and ethical matters. Though issues relating to integrity can often be non-discipline specific, using or writing case studies that have grounding in the discipline of those taking part in the discussion can often increase their effectiveness, as they are more immediately relatable to their day-to-day work.

UCL is compiling a collection of case studies based on real life scenarios in order to create a collection that can be used for training events. This will include case studies from the UK Research Integrity Office as well as local UCL submissions.

Information Security

There are several training options available to staff and students in information security such as the Information Security Awareness Moodle course as well as an interactive anti-phishing game.  In addition, SLMS IT runs a course on managing sensitive data called Introduction to Information Governance for researchers in SLMS intending to use the SLMS Data Safe Haven.

Managing Research Data

How-to guides, case studies and planning tools can be found on the Research Data Management webpages. Also available are training materials for use within research groups, as well as teaching materials for students and materials for librarians, IT managers and facilitators.

Publication Ethics

Guidance on publication ethics and guidelines for editors can be found on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) website. 

Doctoral Skills Development Programme

The Doctoral Skills Development Programme run a number of courses relating to academic writing including two workshops specifically on publications.

Organisational Development

Organisational Development also run the following courses:

Other External Resources

Please note, this only an example of the other types of recommended resources available.

Medical Research Council

Medical Research Council offers free e-learning courses for researchers, such as Good Research Practice, Research Data and Confidentiality and Research and human tissue legislation.

UK Data Service

The UK Data Service provides advice for those who wish to use the service as well as useful advice on managing research data, including information on other resources such as the Managing and Sharing Research Data - A guide to good practice.

Digital Curation Centre

The Digital Curation Centre provides extensive guidance and a variety of training materials, how-to guides, checklists and tools on the storage, management, protection and sharing of digital research data.